OKLAHOMA CITY -- Caitlin Lowe had the best view of any
player on the field, and even she wasn't sure if Arizona had
finally made its breakthrough against Tennessee ace Monica Abbott.
Pinch-runner Danielle Rodriguez came charging home on Adrienne
Acton's grounder in the 10th inning, and catcher Shannon Doepking
spun in an attempt to tag her out. Rodriguez scraped her left hand
toward the tip of home plate.
"I still kind of had to look at the umpire because I wasn't
really sure what he was going to call," said Lowe, who was in the
on-deck circle when Acton hit the ground ball.
Hays: Mowatt forces Game 3
Arizona's ace Taryne Mowatt worked out of a string of jams and outlasted Monica Abbott. Mowatt's reward? She gets another turn in the circle in a decisive third game, Graham Hays writes. Story
"I knew she had definitely had a chance, and I saw her hand
sneak in," Lowe added.
Umpire Jerry Bark ruled that Rodriguez was in beneath Doepking's
tag to score the winning run in Arizona's 1-0 win over Tennessee on
Tuesday night that extended the Women's College World Series finals
to a decisive third game.
Sam Banister started Arizona's rally with single to left field
and moved to second on a sacrifice before an error by Tennessee
second baseman Kenora Posey allowed Callista Balko to reach base
and Rodriguez, who pinch ran for Banister, to get to third.
Acton then slapped a grounder to shortstop Liane Horiuchi, and
she fired home. Rodriguez swerved to the right around Doepking
before extending her left hand toward the plate.
"Luckily I have long fingers," said Rodriguez, holding up her
left hand.
Rodriguez's run -- on her 21st birthday -- ended a 43-inning
scoreless streak for Abbott and extended the series to another game
Wednesday night.
Doepking came away with a different impression of the play.
"When she came, I thought I had her. The umpire saw something
different," Doepking said. "No matter what, that's not what lost
the game. We couldn't bring a run across when we had runners in
scoring position."
Arizona starter Taryne Mowatt (41-12) found her way out of one
jam after another to keep the defending champions alive until they
could score off Abbott, the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the
Year.
Mowatt stranded 14 Tennessee runners, pitching out of a
bases-loaded situation with nobody out in the fifth and preventing
the Lady Vols (63-7) from scoring after putting the potential
winning run in scoring position in the ninth.
Her teammates huddled around her along the first-base line after
she got Horiuchi to ground out to end the game.
"We certainly had our opportunities tonight and couldn't
capitalize when we needed to," Tennessee co-coach Karen Weekly
said.
Abbott (50-4), who holds the NCAA records for wins, shutouts and
strikeouts, fanned 11 to break the record for strikeouts in a World
Series set by Alicia Hollowell in Arizona's run to the title last
year. She hadn't allowed a run through her first 37 innings at the
World Series, throwing four straight shutouts and then keeping
Arizona scoreless through the first two extra innings.
Mowatt matched her with 11 strikeouts.
"I really felt like that in a game like that you've got to
match them pitch for pitch and hang in there and get an
opportunity," Arizona coach Mike Candrea said. "We finally got an
opportunity and made something happen."
The top-seeded Wildcats (49-14-1), who didn't get a runner past
second base in Game 1, were equally ineffective against Abbott
until the winning rally in the 10th. That called for an
unconventional decision by Candrea to have Balko, the catcher, bunt
with Rodriguez on second and one out.
But the move paid off when Posey dropped the throw as Balko
arrived at first.
"We're trying 18 million different things, obviously, when
you've got someone like Monica on the mound and throwing well,"
Candrea said.
"The name of the game is if you get an opportunity you've got
to make something happen. You can't sit back and expect to get two
hits."
The Lady Vols' best chance to score came in the fifth, when
Horiuchi walked, Posey bunted for a single and India Chiles reached
on a grounder to deep short before Mowatt could retire a batter.
Mowatt responded by getting Lindsay Schutzler to ground back to
the pitching circle before two running catches from her defense on
bloops to the outfield grass. Second baseman Chelsie Mesa made the
first, an impressive over the shoulder grab of Tiffany Huff's
floater before bluffing a throw to force Horiuchi back to third.
Shortstop Kristie Fox followed it by catching Tonya Callahan's soft
line drive to end the inning.
"I just kind of had to stay calm and not get too worked up
about it that there's no outs, bases loaded and probably their
three best hitters up to bat," said Mowatt, who also stranded
runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and seventh
innings.
"I hit my spots. I thought I jammed the last two batters pretty
good and Chelsie and Foxy got really good jumps on those balls
behind them and were able to catch them. It was a pretty exciting
inning."
Pat Summitt, coach of the Lady Vols' national championship
basketball team, was in the stands for the game.